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TACTICS INDNYC/CRAPPYCRAPERSON
Final Tactics : - Indnyc/Crappy
3-4-1-2 formation centered to bring out the best of Platini, C. Ronaldo and Ronaldo
The team is set up similar to the great Juventus team of the 80’s in which Platini won 3 European player of the year awards. In addition we have two of the best forwards of all time upfront- the greatest number 9 ever, Luiz Ronaldo, and the greatest wing forward ever in Cristiano Ronaldo.
Goalkeeper: Oliver Kahn.. Easily one of the greatest of all times
Defense
The defense is the same as the semi final. Gaetano Scriea, Paolo Maldini and Rio Ferdinand make our defense water tight. Scriea plays the role he played for Juventus and is expected to bring the ball out of defense and start attacks.
P. Maldini is easily amongst top 5 defenders of all time and Rio is as graceful as they get. They are flanked by Cabrini another member of the Juventus side who also won the 1982 World Cup with Italy at Left Wing Back and is one of the greatest left backs of all time. Manuel Amoros completes the defense at right wing back.
Cabrini and Amoros are given a license to venture forward with the back 3 covering for them. Noby Stiles will fall back in defense as required
Midfield
Noby Stiles, Neeskens, and Platini give the team a great balance. Noby Stiles was the player that sat and did the dirty work as Charlton and co. led United to the European cup. His role here is to break up attacks and feed the ball to Platini and Neeskens.
Neeskens is probably one of the greatest box to box midfielders and will be a key player in both attack and defense. In this formation he is given a bit more licence to move forward and join the attack. He still maintains his role as a box to box midfielder.
Platini is given the free role of sorts in the midfield with freedom to drop deep or move into the box as he sees fit. Even if presence of two Ronaldos upfront may not allow him to play a proper false 9 role, he is the second best pure no.10 in history behind Maradona and after Diego, he is the player you want supplying balls to those 2.
Attack
Ronaldo and Cristiano Ronaldo completes the line up. Arguably two of the greatest forwards of all time, they are playing in familiar roles and no matter how good the defense they will cause trouble.
Match Specific Tactics
- Our tactic is to use the strength of our 5 man defense with Stiles and Neeskens on top of that, absorb any attack from Tuppet's team and then counter from the back
- Cristiano and Luiz Ronaldo are both excellent when it comes to breaking out in counters either with the ball or without it
- Both full backs are capable of sprinting forward as is Neeskens.
- Platini, Neeskens and Scriea can play that critical pass from the back to lead a quick counter
- In an attacking phase when we do have the ball, our full backs will have leeway to attack since Maldini can nullify Jairzinho when required given the latter almost played as a wing forward at times and Rio can be back up for Amoros if Giggs leads the attack.
- This is strictly true for attacking phase when the opposition might try to counter. When in defensive phase, all 5 will be in their positions.
- Zico + Puskas will be difficult for any defense but but our central defensive spine is incredibly strong in Scriea, Rio, Maldini and Stiles
- If Puskas drops deep, Scriea will come out of the defense to the midfield
- A huge part of our defense is Goalkeeper Oliver Kahn who is arguably a contender for GOAT. The opposition goalkeeper by comparison is almost a sheep. The gulf in class between the two goalkeepers is glaring when we look at the other positions where we are evenly matched
TACTICS TUPPET
When two of our best attacking players are the best players of two of the most brilliant attacking teams (Mighty Magyars, Brazil 82), it doesn't makes much sense to play defensively, soak pressure & counter etc. We are going to be playing in an attacking 4-2-3-1.
Facing an attack as good as crappy/Indy is very hard and made me take some tough decison. Beckenbauer in defense or midfield was one of them and it was a hard one, I know Wright is probably (& in my view unjustifiably) not going to get rated as much as the others, and Beckenbauer would be an immense upgrade on him. But I am going to back my conviction on Wright - Moore partnership which I feel is perfect. More importantly I want to have Kaiser's influence in midfield to counter Platini and win the control the midfield.
Leaving Masopust was a tough decision as well but while Masopust was awesome he doesn't provide anything that Beckenbauer doesn't already do it better. Monti on the other hand with his incredible defensive acumen can hold the fort pretty well while Kaiser goes forward to help in attack. Not that Beckenbauer is particularly instructed to go forward at every opportunity but Monti frees him to play his natural game. I feel containing Platini is the key for me to contain the opposition attack. Out of all the great number 10s I feel Platini is the one who is most comfortable in middle and is less prone to move to wide areas. He was an astonishing playmaker but his game was more based on passing and quick pass & go rather than dribbling and taking on defenders (relatively speaking ofcourse). I feel the central axis of Monti-Beckenbauer-Moore-Wright has the right combination of skill, physicallity and sheer talent to limit Platini.
The best way to deal with Cristiano is always try to cut the supply to him, thats what SAF tried when he used Welbeck to suffocate Alonso. Especially his Real Madrid version while an amazing finisher is more dependent on supply. Our solution is to try and contain Platini. We have a very strong central core that should stifle his creativity and reduce the chances for Cristiano. Facing him is Djalma Santos who is perfect for Ronaldo as Djalma had pretty much no flaws in his defensive game. He believed that first responsibility of a fullback is to defend and he fulfilled that impeccably with his strength, durability and resolution. He was unyielding in the tackle, effective in the air, quick to cover the ground with his distinctive scuttling run and perceptive in his distribution, usually preferring a simple pass to one of his more extravagantly talented team-mates.
Dealing with phenomeno is an incredibly hard job. In Bobby Moore though I have a defender who did a very admirable job of containing a similar player in Pele. Moore and Wright would have to be at their best to have any hope to contain Ronaldo but for purely covering, marking & tackling Moore was the best defender and Both Pele & Beckenbauer agreed on this. While other defenders like Baresi, Scirea bring different qualities to the game, when it comes to pure defending Moore was as good as it gets. Wright would compliment him with his pace and heading.
For my team I feel we have edge in Midfield battle. With our opposition playing 5 at the back, We are going to be the more proactive & attacking team and likely control the game more, with Backenbauer being a great influence in both attack and defense. Width is something thats going to come up as well. 4-2-3-1 generally has the advantage in the wing over 3-5-2 and I have a pair of all time great wingers in Jairzinho and Giggs. They would force the wingbacks back and pull the defenders apart to create space for Zico & Puskas through center.
Zico is unsurprisingly my talisman in this game. He was brilliant against Scirea in Italy vs Brazil 1982, while also shaking off Gentile's brutal marking.
In last game I heard someone question Zico's scoring record with a remark on him scoring those goals in an attacking Brazilian league. Just to take an example of his sheer talent and adaptability, consider that he moved to Italy at the age of 30 to play for Udinise. He adapated to the cynical & defensive Itallian football which is wildly different from Brazilian game. And in his very first season hit 19 goals in the league, scoring at a better rate (19 in 24 vs 20 in 28) & just one behind league highest scorer Platini who played for a settled and much superior Juventus team. He also scored against some brilliant defenders like 2 goals agaisnt Baresi's Milan and a goal against Scirea's Juventus. He has the performance and stats to back him up against the Scirea lead defense.
Puskas is yet another GOAT from my team. Most prolific player in the draft, he can both create his own chances and finish what the likes of Zico & Backenbauer would create for him. Its hard not to get excited looking at other team and seeing Phenomeno leading the line, but it should be remembered that Puskas scored more goals, won more trophies & had an overall better career than Ronaldo did.
To sum it up, Zico is free-er to do his magic. He has proven that he can perform against best of Italian defense and has one of the most prolific player of all time in front of him. My world class wingers are going the stretch the opposition defense more consistently and with our midfield dominating we would be crating more chances, more often which should give us victory.